Francesco Gostoli

Francesco Gostoli

Francesco Gostoli (born 1946, Rome) is an Italian architect. He has written a great number of articles and studies for journals and magazines. He invented the Metro Armonico, a means of creating and defining ergonomic dimensions, published in “Architecture as I see it”, 2004.

Biography

Metro Armonico

Francesco Gostoli was born in Rome in 1946. Initially he was self-taught. He enrolled in the Architectural faculty in Rome in 1969. He was a pupil of Sergio Musmeci under whom he graduated in 1975 in the course “ Bridges and major structures”. In 1976 he attended a course on Prevention of structural damage at the Engineering Department of Rome University and a course in Nude Drawing at The Fine Arts Academy in Rome. He began his study of the human body, which was to lead him to the invention of the Metro Armonico, a 3-D metre which offers proportions which are satisfying to the occupier for his or her natural life-style.

Whilst attending the ILAUD (International Laboratory and Urban Design) he came into contact with Ralph Erskine, Sverre Fehn and Peter Smithson.[1] Referring to Gostoli, Bruno Zevi stated “ I published a passage written by Gostoli as an editorial of my magazine,[2] an event that has happened only rarely in the 40 years of its monthly appearance.” He has taught at the IUAV, The Camerino University, Cà Foscari University of Venice and The University of Udine. His plans have been published in “domus”, “casabella”, “Spazio e Società”, “ Costruire”, “villegiardini”, and many other journals.

Teaching

From 1985 to 1990 he taught town planning at the IUAV. Between 1988 and 1990 he lectured in “Science of Materials” at the European Center of craftsmen for the protection of Architectural Heritage. From 1993 to 2000 he helped establish the Architecture Department in Ascoli Piceno. Here he taught Urban Composition and Planning.

Between 1998 and 2008 he taught “ Theory and Techniques in Architectural Restoration” and “ Interior Architecture” at Cà Foscari University in Venice. Between 2010 and 2012 he oversaw a design course at the Engineering Department of Udine University, where he gave lessons on the Theory of the “Structural Minimum”, elaborated by Sergio Musmeci.

Architectural Journals

Francesco Gostoli with Giancarlo De Carlo at a seminar in Urbino

In 1993 he was called upon by Bruno Zevi to participate on the journal “ L’architettura, cronache e storia.”, and in 1999 he was appointed Italian correspondent on the journal “Spazio e Società” by Giancarlo De Carlo. In 2003 he was a member of the Committee for the Department of Community Policy for the Head of the Council of Ministers. He presented the urban planning proposal established by European Guidelines for facilitating access for younger generations. The other major task was to analyse the ideal characteristics for a contemporary museum.

In 2012 he made the opening introductory speech for the International seminar at Alfenas University, Brazil.

Notable works

Public housing units. Salò
Motorway Authority offices. Venice

In 1978 he won a public competition for the drawing-up of plans for structural interventions within the city center of Venice. In 1980 he designed a “New Town Plan” for Padua, a residential complex of 42 dwellings in which he pioneered a “barrel roof” which exploits solar energy.

In 1984 he presented a plan to achieve order and harmony in a chaotic and illegally evolved outer-urban sprawl, Chioggia (Venice). In 1990 he made plans for eight public housing units in Salò (BR.) where realized the natural air–blending system by harnessing the ascending movements of the air. In 1998 he took part in a competition for the New Center of IUAV in Venice, in which he planned, with the Venetian Physicist Alberto Benedetti, using (a) the roofs, (b) the inside of the hollow foundation piles and (c) the saturated underground subsoil of the Venice Lagoon respectively for absorption, distribution and accumulation of solar Energy. In 2001 he designed The New Bertoliana Library within the city center of Vicenza. In this plan, he pioneered the adaptability of the areas for differing functions. In 2006 he designed The New Entrance to the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale at the Arsenale and in 2007 designed the prototype for the Museum of Sound, using the Metro Armonico.

In 2011 he won the “Eco-space 2011 - houses for sustainable living” competition organized by the Ministry of the Environment with his project “casaminima 45”. A low-cost dwelling–place for young people. The prototype was put on show at the MAXXI Museum, in Rome.

Selected Plans

The prototype of casaminima 45 showed at the MAXXI Museum, in Rome
Venice Biennale, Arsenale, New Entrance to the Italian Pavilion.
Information point - teaching aids, braille, software – for each painting at the Palazzo Chiericati Museum, Vicenza

Design

Publications

Francesco Gostoli with Alvaro Siza at Siza’s studio, Porto.

Exhibitions

Notes

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  1. ↑ Nemo propheta in patria / Francesco Gostoli. Spazio e Società 1994 Jan.–Mar. Architectural Association Library London, Peter Smithson: A Selective Bibliography, v.17, n.65, p.112-121, ISSN 0392-4947.
  2. ↑ Against the plague of quotationism. In “ L’Architettura-cronache e storia”, anno XXXIX n.5, may 1993
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